My First game in 27 years - 1809 Britsh/Portuguese VS 1809 French in Flanders

I played my first Napoleonic wargame in about 27 years today. The rules are Field of Glory Napoleonic (2nd edition). The armies Eureka/AB and Old Glory Miniatures 18mm.

I took on (after the first turn, two) divisions of the 1809-11 British and Portuguese army vs an 1809-1811 French army. The battle was somewhere in France/Central Europe, so perhaps it was in stupid why are the Portuguese here? Flanders.  Both armies had chosen flexible defence.

The French army commanded by Cameron Wilson has a unit of heavy 12 pounders, a unit of 9 pounders and 2 units of light infantry. There was a division of Cuirassiers x2 and Hussars x2, and 2 divisions of infantry (generally poor or conscript) with some light infantry.

The allied army was small but superior. I controlled the 1st and 2nd Divisions which were the core of the army. Richard Gordon took the Portuguese infantry and ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) cavalry. Note however, we did not have any corps artillery, just attached to Brigades.

The Battlefield had a small town in the French corner which they occupied and had their LOC. Several steep hills and a gentle hill where next to them, with a road running down the centre. The French army deployed on the hills next to the town. On the Allied side a small wood anchored our right flank with the allied LOC undefended but well out of range on the far left of a small river.

The Allied Army. Close to the camera is the ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Hussars. In the middle are my 2 divisions and the left the ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) heavy cavalry and Portuguese infantry.


Close up of the allied infantry.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/JuAzDhE.jpg[/img]

The French army- in the centre is the Corps artillery. 

I didn't get a picture of it, but turn 1 the allies advanced quickly up the centre road area while the French had some difficulty getting over the steep hills. They were also quite hesitant and to me unwilling to leave the defensive position until it because obvious where the allies were going.  The allied army had been lucky to start with the initiative though.

Turn 2 the French had advanced to secure the hill and started to climb the steeper hills to their rear.  The Allies are deploying in a line with the ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Hussars  on the right flank and ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Dragoons in the centre. I stuffed up the deployment of my 2 divisions are bit. In the front of them a unit of Spanish Guerillas kept the French Artillery busy with minimal losses.

The French army deploys.

My 2 divisions face them, ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Hussars on the right.



On the right flank, the ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Hussars charged and were counted charged by the French Hussars.

The ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Hussars are spent but defeat the French, who flee! Their division commander falls in their rout!!

A medium range gun battle broke out between the French line and Allied line. My British division was somewhat disordered by the French artillery firing canister but held on. The Spanish Guerillas and British light infantry took only small losses from the massed artillery batteries facing them. I was concerned that the French cavalry would force me into square and then the artillery would blast me to pieces.

At this point, I noticed the French cavalry was somewhat disordered. They had moved to support their light cavalry which had rallied, but was now facing away from supporting their artillery. Their crews were a bit disordered and their infantry waving. I urged our corps commander to send in the ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Dragoons to the centre!

They took the fire of three enemy infantry units and charged through the line of French in the centre! The ([b]Impetuous British SHOCK HEAVY[/b]) Dragoons crashed through, destroyed the heavy artillery and forced the 9 pounders to rout!

Meanwhile, the French cavalry on my right charged our light cavalry.

Both sides were forced to retreat, with the ([b]Impetuous British[/b]) Hussars taking the worst of it.

We'd been playing for 3+ hours and the battle then ended with a French Defeat! 40% to 10% Allied.

The French army was a bit slow and cramped in one corner initially and were more interested in fighting a gun duel with their (vastly superior) artillery than charging with columns like I expected. The battle deciding charge of the heavy brigade was only a 50%-50% shot at working, as 1-2 more dice rolling in their favour would have stopped the charge and prevented the French artillery from being destroyed and then chain routing other units.



Field of Glory Napoleonic is pretty straight forward, but there are a lot of exceptions to keep track of. The rules are well laid out (with a collection of all tables at the back of the book) but there's a lot of different notes to take account of when moving/firing/assault. (ie- you roll 4 dice as infantry unless you have a skirmish unit so +1 but -1 if enemy cav is close but then re roll 6s if your veteran and 5s if your guard and -1 if you're in terrain) However, it works out to be quite a good model of warfare for the period and I give the rules a thumbs up. I hope to start building a British/Portuguese army very similar to what I was able to part of today, though I would like some corps level medium artillery, because I like the look of the guns. I also want some cotton wool to show off who is firing because it looks a lot more dramatic.

A big thank you to Richard Gordon for letting me play with half is army and Cameron Wilson for making it a great game to play.